The preeminent film critic of the 20th century used her influence to shape modern cinema as well as our understanding of it, as revealed in this clip-filled homage to the movies Kael championed.

When Pauline Kael joined the New Yorker in 1968, she cut an unlikely figure as a feared and admired public intellectual. A middle-aged Jewish woman without academic pedigree, she soon proved a driving force in the exploding and explosive cinema of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Unbounded by theory or rules, she responded personally to every film she reviewed, at length, often differing from other critics as she assessed such new talents as Martin Scorsese, and propounded the auteur theory. The first bio doc of the critic, who died in 2001 having retired from writing due to Parkinson’s, allows us to see scenes from the films she reviewed to determine how her judgment has held up. Although a phenomenon in her day – her books were Bibles to the cineaste – she seems even more prescient and relevant today, and is sorely missed. This gem is every film lover’s dream.

“Kael had a more positive influence on the climate for film in America than any other single person over the last three decades.” - Roger Ebert

“She was more than a great critic. She reinvented the form and pioneered an entire aesthetic of writing.” - Owen Gleiberman, E-Weekly